Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Peering through the Window


I slept soundly and didn’t wake but maybe just once through the night. I was out of bed and downstairs by 555am. I stepped briefly out onto the deck to get a feel for the weather. It was clear and cold – about 34 degrees. I verified that the coffee brewed as programmed. Yep. I headed to the living room next where I whipped out 50 sit-ups, 40 windmills, and 40 curls.

Decided to use the time ahead of waking Mindy and before enjoying coffee doing meditation. I find I feel a lot better when I put meditation first. Was done with meditation by 618am and quickly poured two cups of coffee, one for me and the other for Mindy. I took Mindy’s upstairs and placed it on her night stand. She asked that I bump up the heat. Looking back, I now realize that I failed to follow through on that request. Oops!

Headed to my PC with coffee in hand. Noticed a rather negative email from my mom in all caps. Not exactly how I wanted to enjoy my quiet time.  I don’t think she realizes, but no one wants to read emails in all caps as it implies screaming. Though perhaps that’s her intent. Anyway, I brushed it aside.

Read the recap from the MNF game. Seahawks pulled out an ugly one. But that’s what good teams do, find a way to win even when they’re not playing their best. Must’ve been around 640pm when I got off the PC, into my running clothes, then completed stretching on the living room floor. Jacob headed out for the bus around 650am. I headed upstairs to say goodbye to Mindy since in all likelihood, she would be gone by the time I made it home from a run. I must’ve startled her. She was just out of the shower when I came barging in. 

It was cold enough that I wore the requisite attire – hand and ear covers. Numerous times during my run I gazed skyward towards the waning crescent moon located at about 11am in the clear black sky. Lovely! I ran the full 4.1 miles with no trouble whatsoever. I feel blessed to feel so good – powerful – even after all these years. Made it back home by 636am. Bella was surprised that I was home so early. Said her mom prepped for me being really late.

I made sure that she was on track then headed out with the pug. We walked to the east, our side of the street. Haven’t gone that way in a while. Back at the house Mindy had my eggs waiting in the microwave. She also had an egg fried and waiting for the pug still in the frying pan. Bella and I headed out at 755am. The pug had just finished woofing down her eggs when we were heading out. I called out to her to see if she cared to join us. She did. We joined the others already waiting at the bus stop. This time the bus was early, at least compared to what’s become the norm. Wasn’t even 805am. Sarah and her mom crossed the street and headed for home just opposite to Eiknarf and I. Spotted a deer in my backyard near the side entrance to our deck. Pointed it out to Anne and Sarah. It just stood there staring at us. Pretty.

Inside, I was quick to rush off to the shower wanting to be all the way across town at a reasonable time. I was out of the shower and ready to go by 830am. My plan was to leave the house no later than 845am. I didn’t want to leave much sooner either. I puttered around the house a little in preparation for departure. 845am came quickly and off I was to work.

Traffic wasn’t an issue. Made excellent time crossing town and then heading north. Arrived before 915am and even got one of the very few up close parking spots saving myself the long, ¼ mile walk from the deep parking lot. I set-up in a cube occupied with lots of tech gear. Not ideal, but functional. I didn’t really mind. Soon I was so engrossed in work that my surroundings were largely irrelevant.

Around 1140am a peer stopped by sharing that he and others were meeting in the cafeteria for lunch. I declined the invite just as I do 99.9% of the time, but after he walked away I had a change of heart and decided to join them after all. I took my bottled water and an apple along. Glad I joined them. We shared some ideas and discussed a few work issues. If nothing else, it’s valuable team bonding time. We headed our separate ways around 1250pm in order to prep for our standing 1pm tech meeting with the customer.

As usual, it was a packed meeting room. We steered away from the usual agenda and instead spent the entire hour on one important topic. Excellent team dialogue. The meeting wrapped up around 2pm and I spent the next couple hours taking care of a couple urgent reactive issues. I wrapped up work around 415pm. I wanted to meet up with Jacob for his 1st basketball practice at his school. Practice started at 5pm. Jimaken was taking him. I would be bringing him home. I also planned to stop at the Dublin Best Buy on my way to get a cover for my new work iPhone.

Made decent time barreling around 270. Headed in Best Buy around 440pm. Lots of choices, but like most Best Buy visits, at least to their phone accessories, a confusing one. Had a young associate not stopped over to assist, I would’ve purchased the wrong case. Seems there’s a specific model for the 5C. Those for the 5 & 5S won’t fit. Yikes! Of course they were out of most 5C phone cases, including the black Otter Box cover I wanted. I briefly admonished myself for not stopping at the Easton Best Buy before getting on the freeway. Instead of the Otter Box, which is ridiculously beefy, I went with a silicone cover much like the one I have on my Galaxy III. It was less expensive, functional, and handsome. Perfect! I looked at nothing else and instead headed for checkout.

Passed my Hilliard office in route to Jacob’s school. Arrived around 510pm. Wasn’t sure where it enter the building but tried a couple doors that appeared to lead to gym. Nope! I tried the other end. Success! Wow! There must’ve been about 50-60 7th graders there for tryouts. A young coach – guessing about 24 – was hollering orders at the mass of adolescent boys. Just me and two other parents there watching.

I found the coach’s demeanor amusing, which had to be intimidating to some of the kids, and most likely on purpose. He barked order after order describing how he wanted the drill to unfold. I might’ve watched for 10 minutes when the wind bag meandered over towards me and the two other parents and somewhat graciously asked us to leave. Said he can’t have 60 parents watching practice. We laughed amongst ourselves after complying looking around for the other 57.

We stood/sat just outside the gym occasionally peering through the small windows in the gymnasium doors. The experience left me thinking about where I would’ve been slotted amongst the 50-60 boys competing for what we learned would be a max of 15 spots on the 7th grade team. While Jacob is one of the tallest kids in his class, I would’ve been one of the smallest. And about an hour into the practice, the coach separated the boys into 4 groups. It was pretty clear to me that he had all the big kids in two clusters and then the smaller ones in two others. The scrimmaged for the last hour.

While all of that was taking place, me and one of the other father’s chatted. He introduced himself. Learned he’s the Chaplin at Children’s hospital. I asked if he was related to Charlie, and then went on to ask if he wore a derby hat and carried a cane. He didn’t get it. He shared that he played college ball. His son was pretty tall, too, though not as tall and muscular as Jacob. From the little window peering I did, Jacob seemed to be holding his own and then some. He’s only recently acquired these basketball skills. Seems to be a natural.

Practice was set to run until 7pm. Dave & I talked sparingly while waiting its end. Around 630, the 8th graders showed up. They have their own team, too. And there is a huge difference in the size and maturity in these boys. There were far fewer trying out too. My guess because most of the team positions are likely spoken for by last year’s 7th grade team players.

7pm came soon enough. We weren’t sure how or when any cuts would be made. The night before, Jacob speculated that they would make cuts each night, including this one, through Thursday’s practice. However, as the kids let practice, Jacob learned that they won’t make any cuts until after he 2nd practice, Wednesday evening. Amongst all the kids trying out, the size varies wildly. Jacob and a couple others stand near 6’ while the smallest kids are about 4.5’.

Jacob and I were finally headed for home. He asked about dinner. I wasn’t sure what we’d be having, but reminded him that Mindy had to get Bella to and from gymnastics. She also planned to stop at Target to get Halloween candy as well as a few other items. We got home before Mindy & Bella. I think it was 725pm. While waiting on Mindy to get home, I snacked on peanuts and cashews while playing on my PC.

Mindy & Bella were home by 745pm. Jacob was disappointed to learn that Mindy hadn’t picked-up any food. Bella expressed her displeasure too. She cited more than once just how hungry she was. Only recently has she become a voracious eater come the evening hours. And it’s probably no coincidence that she’s grown ¾” since the start of school already too.

Jacob asked for a beef fajita made with prepackaged chunks of steak Mindy found at the grocery store. And then after lots of hemming and hawing, Bella eventually decided on a baked potato with some steak chunks over top. I took care of Bella while Mindy took care of Jacob. Mindy & I split the leftover Greek salad from Monday. I snapped down a couple chunks of steak too.

It was quickly after 830pm. Bella and I watched Oddities on the Science Channel. Interesting stuff. I soon fell asleep on the sofa and was none the wiser when Mindy and Bella headed up to bed. I woke around 1005pm to an empty downstairs. I topped off my water glass and stumbled upstairs to bed. Mindy appeared to be already out. Bella’s bedroom light was on but I didn’t bother checking. I heard Eiknarf come in our room a few minutes later. However, instead of her usual whining from the side of our bed while waiting to be picked-up and tossed onto our bed, she leaped up on the bedroom recliner. I was asleep within a few minutes.

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